Inevitable
by brokendreams77
Summary: It's inevitable that Kate will realize that Rick is her one and done. She just needs a little nudge, that's all. What if she thought she'd lost him forever? Would that be a big enough nudge to get her to admit her feelings?
1. Chapter 1

Ok, this is my first Castle fanfiction and my first fic posted here, but not the first one I've written. Don't know how good this is but it's been rattling around in my brain for months and I just needed to get it out. This story is unbeta'd so all mistakes are my own.

Obligatory disclaimer: I don't own Castle the show or any of it's characters. If I did you would see a bit more physical contact between Castle and Beckett:) This story is just for fun.

XXXXX

Beckett felt her irritation level rising. She had been doing mind numbing paperwork for several hours now and her shoulders were tight and it felt like a little man was banging on the bongo drums inside her head. What she wouldn't give for a pain killer right about now.

And to make matters worse Castle had been fidgeting in his seat every few minutes for about half of those hours. In fact, he was particularly agitated today, she thought. She briefly wondered why and then in her irritation decided she didn't care. All she knew was that if he didn't sit still very soon she was going to shoot him.

Kate tolerated it for several more minutes before she finally cracked.

"Castle!" she yelled.

Castle jumped and looked over at Beckett in confusion. "What? What did I do?" he asked, a bit ashamed to hear how high pitched his voice was.

"Will you quit fidgeting, it's annoying" Beckett snapped.

Rick hadn't been aware of the fact that he'd been fidgeting. He supposed it was possible but he was so distracted it hadn't registered. He had something on his mind and he had to find a way to tell Kate. He wasn't sure how she would take his news. In fact, he wasn't real sure how he felt about it. Mostly annoyed, he decided. He tried really hard to sit still, he didn't want to annoy Kate any more than he already had.

After a few minutes Beckett couldn't take any more. She turned abruptly and face Castle making him jump.

"Ok, I don't like it when you are too still either. What's going on, you are all over the place today?"

"Well, I just can't win with you today can I?" Castle said, with a touch of acid in his tone. Beckett looked over at him surprised by his tone. He really wasn't himself today. Now she was getting curious about what was making him so unlike his usual self.

Castle let out a loud sigh. "Sorry, I didn't mean to snap at you" he said quietly "You're right, I do have something on my mind and I really need to talk to you about it"

Beckett put down her pen and turned slightly to face him, giving him her full attention. Castle felt a bit self concious under her scrutiny. He cleared his throat nervously and tried to gather his thoughts.

"Well.." he shifted in his seat uncomfortably "as you know I sometimes have to do things for Black Pawn Publishing that are written into my contract with them..."

At the mention of Black Pawn he saw Kate stiffen slightly and nod her head tersely, indicating that he should continue. He suspected that she really didn't like Gina and probably wouldn't like what he was about to tell her.

He took a deep breath and continued "It's written in my contract that I have to attend at least one event per year as designated by my publisher, who you know is Gina..." he paused for a moment and watched the disdain slide quickly across Kate s face, it was so quick in fact that he thought he might have imagined it. When she didn't say anything he took another deep breath and prepared to get the rest of what he had to say out as quick as possible.

"Gina says, and this is non-negotiable,that I have to accompany her to that new Ski Resort that just opened in the mountains. She is hosting an event for several big investors there and they have requested that she bring her top selling authors to a meet and greet type of event..." he trailed off as he watched Kate's eyes darken with anger but she didn't say a word. She just sat stiffly in her chair staring at him.

As he was about to continue Beckett just stood, without saying a word to him, and walked swiftly to the break room. She was fuming inside. What did Gina think she was up to? Was this a thinly veiled attempt to get Castle back? He wouldn't go back to her, would he? He had told Kate that he loved her. Of course, he didn't know that she remembered his confession but she did, and it was with her every day, comforting her. He would keep waiting for her wouldn't he?

She stood immobile in front of the coffee machine, her heart pounding. This was not good. Had she waited too long to tell him that she had heard his confession, and that she loved him too? She dropped her chin to her chest and closed her eyes, squeezing back the tears that threatened to fall. She really needed to get out of here, run, get away. She turned on her heel and headed for the elevator.

Castle watched all this, paralysed in his seat. As Beckett reached the elevator and stabbed the button Castle suddenly found his feet and took off after her. He reached the elevator as the doors were sliding shut. He put his hands up to try and stop the doors closing but he was too late. He slammed his palm against the door in frustration. This is exactly what he had feared would happen.

XXXXXX

Kate wandered about the streets aimlessly for a while, trying desperately to get herself under control. She was so hurt and upset and she didn't really understand why. And she was angry, that was the overwhelming feeling. Angry at Gina, angry at Castle and angry at herself. Why did this have to be so damned complicated?

The little voice inside her head said to her Well, it doesn't need to be this complicated. You are making it complicated. She sneered at herself. Even her inner voice was against her today.

She had been walking for a while and not taking any notice of where she was going. She stopped when she realized where she was. She was standing right outside of her therapists office. Her feet had carried her to the one person who knew all of her secrets. She thought to herself, what the hell, I'm here now I might as well go in and find out if he can see me. She hoped that he could help her make sense of things so that she could go back and talk to Castle rationally.

XXXXXX

"So Kate, what brings you here today for an unscheduled visit" Dr. Burke asked her in his quiet, kindly voice.

Kate spent the next half an hour recounting her day to her Doctor. When she was finished she was surprised to find her cheeks wet, she had been crying and didn't realize it. As she wiped her eyes Dr. Burke regarded her thoughtfully.

"Tell me Kate, do you trust Rick?"

Kate replied without thought "Yes, with my life!"

"What about your heart, Kate?"

Beckett just stared at the doctor blankly, like she didn't quite understand what he was asking.

After a few minutes without an answer the doctor tried a different approach.

"So what do you think will happen with Gina while Rick is away? Do you think he will go back to her?"

Kate, who had been examining her finger nails intently, looked up at the Doctor and shrugged. "I don't know. He hasn't exactly had the best track record with long term committed relationships. Gina was his last girlfriend, and he used to be married to her."

"Kate, what do you mean when you refer to his track record?"

"He's been married twice. He's been with a lot of women, some of them while he's been working with me. And then there was his five month relationship with Gina last year"

The doctor put up hand to stop her tirade. "Have you ever asked him why his marriages failed? There must be a reason..."

"Of course there was a reason, he's a womaniser, he probably cheated on both of them" she said bitterly.

"Now you are just assuming, you don't know for certain. Think for a moment about the man you have come to know. Do you think he is a cheater? Do you think he would cheat on you if you were together? Do you think he would cheat on you now, even though you aren't together yet?"

Dr. Burke saw Kate deflate. The fight had gone out of her.

Be honest now he said.

Kate actually had definite proof that he wouldn't cheat on her even though they weren't together yet. He could have had a fling with Serena when they were investigating that murder at the museum several months ago, but he didn't. He also turned down Natalie Rhodes. She looked up at him and said "Honestly..." she stopped and took a deep breath "no, I don't think he would she said with absolute conviction."

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Ok, what did you think? Reviews and constructive advice welcome, flames are not. Thanks.


	2. Chapter 2

Obligatory disclaimer: I don't own Castle the show or any of it's characters. If I did you would see a bit more physical contact between Castle and Beckett:) This story is just for fun.

XXXXXX

Rick had waited most of the afternoon for Kate to come back but by five o'clock, when she hadn't shown up, he'd left to go home. Thoroughly dejected by the events and cursing Gina from here to Sunday, he flopped down onto his couch with a 'hmph' sound as soon as he got home.

He didn't know how long he had been sitting there when he heard a quiet rapping on the door. Who could this be, he thought. He wasn't expecting anyone. And he certainly wasn't in the mood for company.

The rapping came again so he sighed loudly and hefted himself up off the couch and slowly shuffled to the door.

As he pulled the door open his heart stalled in his chest.

"Kate" he said breathlessly "what are you doing here?"

Kate look at him sheepishly and her mouth turned up at the edges.

"I'm sorry" she said quietly "you know, about before"

He looked closely at her and could tell she had been crying.

"Come in" he said and as she entered he closed the door. Leaning on the handle he turned to look at her. She was looking at her feet. She looked so lost. He felt a surge of love so strong for her in that moment that all earlier feelings of hurt dissipated.

"Would you like a drink..." She just shook her head. "Let's sit then, shall we?"

He guided her to the couch and they both sat.

They sat in silence for several minutes. Kate was examining her hands again and Castle was watching her.

"I am sorry about before, you know?" she mumbled and Castle had to strain to hear her.

"When you mentioned Gina's name I..." she wasn't sure how to continue.

Castle waited for her to continue. The silence stretched and Kate began to squirm, wishing he would say something.

"Are you going to finish that sentence?" he asked softly.

She looked at him then and his breath caught in his throat. She was so amazingly beautiful, he couldn't look away. Their eyes locked for several seconds, or maybe it was minutes, who knows?

"I guess I was jealous, ok" she said grudgingly, embarrassed to admit it, but now she had started she might as well go on "when I heard you say you were going away with Gina, I got so mad I couldn't think straight. All I could think of is that you are getting back together with her..."

At that last statement Castle put his hand up to stop her. He looked shocked that she would think that after he had confessed his love to her, but then he stopped himself from saying so as he remembered that she didn't remember anything after being shot. Or so she kept saying, but he had doubts about that. Even so, if she didn't remember then this outburst made more sense. He wasn't sure what to think.

"No, no, no that's not what this trip is about. I have no intention of ever getting back with Gina, that relationship is over for good. The only relationship I have with her now is professional. And she also has someone new in her life who I think she is crazy about." he smiled as he said this.

"And I'm glad, I don't hate Gina, she's still my friend. But we can't function as a couple. I'm happy that she is happy."

Kate sighed and looked at him. She knew he was telling the truth. What an amazing man he was. She wished she had the courage to tell him how she felt. He beamed back at her, happy that the misunderstanding was now sorted.

"So finish telling me all about this trip then" she said.

He smiled at her and said "Well, we leave on Friday afternoon. I'll be away for five days, five long days, with Gina and her simpering assistant, Justin." He screwed up his face at that "As well as three other authors. We are flying to the resort on Black Pawns private jet. Apparently flying is the only way to get to this place. They have a private airstrip of their own. It should be fun, I can't wait" this last part he said sarcastically with a grimace.

Kate grinned at him.

XXXXXX

Friday morning found Castle at the precinct early. As he rode up to homicide in the elevator he pondered what the next five days would be like. He really didn't enjoy these meet and greet type things any more, or all of the schmoozing that came along with it. But he had resigned himself to do it, he didn't really have a choice. He just hated the thought of not seeing Kate for those five days.

The elevator doors opened and he stepped out and walked into the bullpen. Kate wasn't at her desk so he looked around for her. He spotted her in the Captains office and he could see the scowl on her face. He wondered what the Captain was chewing her out about now.

He placed Kate's coffee down on her desk and plopped down into his chair to wait for her. He hoped Gates wouldn't keep her too much longer as he really needed to get going on his other errands. He really wanted to spend a little time with Kate today before he had to leave and every minute Gates kept her was a minute he couldn't spend with her.

"Hey, Castle, you're here early today" Kate said from somewhere behind him, causing him to jump. She snickered a little to herself at the sight of him trying to right his equilibrium.

He jumped up out of his seat and quickly swung around in her direction but by then she was just about level with him and he nearly swung into her causing them to be momentarily eye to eye.

Castle nervously cleared his throat as he stared into her eyes and said "Um, yeah. I can't stay long, I have a million things I have to do before catching the plane this afternoon."

He frowned a little as Kate moved away and sat at her desk. She sighed when she spied the coffee cup sitting in front of her. She lifted it to her lips and took a cautionary sip to see how hot is was and when she found that it was a reasonable temperature took a longer drink.

She had been having the morning from hell and the coffee was just what she needed. She couldn't stop a little moan from slipping out as she savoured the taste which caused Castles eyebrows to raise and disappear into the hair that was flopping over his forehead.

He looked at his watch and his face fell as he realized the he would need to leave now if he was going to be able to get his errands done in time. He looked up to find Kate watching him.

He grinned at her with that boyish grin that never ceased to make her melt.

"I'm sorry, but I have to leave right now, I wish I could stay longer" he said to her regretfully "I will drop back in this afternoon on my way to the airport to say goodbye" he looked at her intently and continued "I don't want to go, you know that, right?"

She just nodded because it seemed the power of speech had left her. She felt that if she said anything the tears may start.

He just nodded briefly and said "I'll see you later, then" and with that he was leaving. She watched his retreating figure disappear into the elevator and as the doors began to slide shut they locked eyes one more time until the doors had shut completely.

XXXXXX

Castle got through his errands quickly without too many problems. He was making good time and he was certain he would have time to drop back into the twelfth on his way to the airport. He had to see Kate one more time. She was like oxygen to him, he needed her for his survival.

He looked at his watch, one o'clock, good. If he left now he would have about an hour at the precinct.

He shrugged on his coat and gathered up his bag and quickly walked to the door. There was no one home to say goodbye to so he swiftly opened the door and was about to leave when his phone rang. He dropped his bag and delved into his pocket to retrieve his phone, hoping it was Beckett, but no such luck. It was Gina.

He pressed the button to answer the call.

"What now Gina, I was just walking out the door" he complained.

"Great that works in perfectly. The flight has been bought forward an hour and you need to be on your way to the airport right now."

"What the hell Gina. Way to drop this on me at the last minute. I wanted to go by the precinct on the way to the airport."

"Well, you don't have time for that now. You need to get your butt down here asap" she said with acid in her voice "no excuses Rick. You're doing this so don't even think of trying to get out of it!"

"I'm not trying to get out of it. I'm coming aren't I?"

"Yes, under protest. Your precious precinct and your Detective will just have to get along without you for a few days."

"Geez, there is no need to be nasty Gina. I thought we'd sorted out all of this animosity between us."

"Yes, you're right. I'm sorry I'm being such a bitch. Bryan was supposed to come with us but he had something come up and can't make it now. I guess I'm taking it out on you." she said apologetically. "That was always one of our problems wasn't it, taking our problems out on each other and never really talking about things."

Before Castle could answer her she said "can you just get here as quick as possible? They want to take off early because there is some bad weather forecast and they are hoping to miss it, ok?"

"Sure, Gina. I'm leaving now. I will just have to ring the station and say goodbye over the phone."

"Ok, see you in a bit then" she said and disconnected.

He quickly locked the door and rode the elevator down. His car was waiting for him.

"Mr. Castle good to see you again sir" said David his chauffeur. As David put Castles bag into the trunk Rick got into the car. He pulled his phone out again, located Kate's number and pressed the button to make the call.

"Beckett" she answered.

Hey Kate

"Oh Hi Castle, sorry I didn't bother looking at the caller ID so I didn't know it was you. Where are you?"

"Would you believe I'm on my way to the airport. The flight has been bought forward an hour so we are leaving at 2 now, not 3. I'm not going to be able to get back to the precinct to see you before I leave" he said with real regret in his voice.

"Oh" was all Kate could manage. She had been looking forward to seeing him again before he left.

"Um, so I guess I will see you when I get back"

"Yeah, I guess you will. Try and have a good time, ok Castle? But not too good a time, ok?" she said with a bit of a laugh.

"Ok" he said. There was a couple of moments pause and then he continued "I'm sorry I really have to go now we just arrived at the Black Pawn departure lounge"

"Ok, Castle. Take care then"

"Thanks Kate, I will...And...I'll really miss you" he said the last part in a rush before quickly disconnecting the call.

Kate looked at her phone in her hand and whispered I'll really miss you too.

XXXXXX

Rick's plane took off on time without a hitch. He settled himself back into the seat with resignation. This was going to be the longest five days of his life. He had taken a seat at the back of the plane. It was a small aircraft and he wanted some space away from Gina and the idiot Justin. There were three others on board as well. They were the other authors that Gina had roped into doing this stupid thing.

Actually the three of them, two men and a woman that Castle had never met before, looked just about as pleased as him to be there. They all sat quietly looking out their windows completely ignoring what Gina and Justin were saying.

About twenty minutes in Rick noticed that it was getting really dark. That's strange, he thought, as he checked his watch, 2.22pm. Shouldn't be this dark this early. He took a good look out of his window and could see that they were flying through some really dark, dense clouds.

And then right before his eyes was a brilliant flash of lightning, it hit very close and made Rick jump back a bit. Now that wasn't something you saw every day. He was a little bit in awe of it but also a little bit scared. It seemed that they were right in the middle of the storm. This must have been the bad weather that they left early to try and avoid.

Just then the pilot announced "Well, folks it looks like we didn't gain anything by leaving early. In fact it seems to have put us right in the path of the storm we were trying to avoid. Things are going to get a bit bumpy for a while so could you all please sit yourselves down in your seats and get all buckled in?"

Rick grabbed for his seat belt and quickly buckled it up. It had gone very quiet on board and he looked around at the others who all wore similar concerned looks.

He felt his heart pounding in his chest and even though he wasn't really a religious man he prayed anyway. Couldn't hurt right?

More flashes of lightning and now sleet. Visibility was down to about zero. The plane was bumping around wildly. It was like the worst roller coaster ride ever. Rick closed his eyes and doubled his praying efforts.

All of a sudden there was a loud crack and the plane veered to left wildly. They seemed to be falling out of the sky rapidly.

Static from the loud speaker and then the pilot yelled "Hold on folks. We've taken a bad hit and we're going down. I have to try and find somewhere to land. Just hold on and assume the crash position" he broke off abruptly.

Rick to a deep breath to try and calm himself but it was impossible. This might be it. He may not survive this. Alexis his beautiful daughter, what if he never saw her again and Kate. Oh God, Kate. He loved her so much and now they may not ever have a future.

He could feel the plane gathering speed on it's downward spiral. He dropped his head and assumed the crash position and was vaguely aware of the others doing the same.

"HOLD ON! We're going to crash in the next couple of seconds..." yelled the pilot.

Rick felt the impact of hitting the ground through his entire body and then they were slipping and sliding along the snow covered ground. Veering left and then right as the pilot tried in vain to keep it straight. They were crashing over mounds of snow and taking trees along with them. Rick was braced so tight against the impact that every one of his muscles had started to scream with the tension.

And then they seemed to slow down and then with a massive jolt they stopped. Rick couldn't believe he was still alive. Stunned but alive. He slowly lifted his head and sat back. He could see movement from some of the others.

There was something wet running down his face and when he put his hand up to touch it to find out what it was his fingers came away covered in blood.

XXXXXX

Ok, what did you think? Reviews and constructive advice welcome, flames are not. Thanks.


	3. Chapter 3

I just want to say thank you to everyone for all of the reviews, alerts and favorites that this story has produced. I really didn't expect such a great response, so thank you!

Obligatory disclaimer: I don't own Castle the show or any of it's characters. If I did you would see a bit more physical contact between Castle and Beckett:) This story is just for fun.

XXXXXX

Kate had been steadily ploughing through the paperwork and had made good inroads into it. She had been working solidly and could feel it in the tightness of her neck and shoulders. She put her pen down and stretched. As she was stretching she looked out of the window and was surprised to see how dark it was. In fact, it looked like it was snowing fairly heavily.

She felt a jolt of alarm and hoped that Rick's plane had gotten to the lodge safely before the storm started. She looked at her watch and saw that it was only four thirty, she had thought it was later. She looked around the bullpen but there was no sign of Esposito or Ryan and she briefly wondered where they had got to.

She got up and got herself another cup of coffee and then settled down to do some more of the paperwork.

A little later she was still doing the paperwork when a shadow fell across her desk. She looked up and was surprised to see who it was.

"Alexis. What are you doing here?" she asked.

"Hi, Detective Beckett. I hope I'm not disturbing you" Alexis said a little unsurely.

"No, of course not. I could do with a break anyway" Kate smiled at the girl but was a bit alarmed when she received no response from her.

The girl looked uncomfortable and worried. This of course worried Kate.

"What's wrong?" Kate asked as she stood up.

"I don't know for sure" said Alexis.

"Come on, lets go into the break room and sit" Kate gently nudged the girl to move and they walked to the break room and sat.

"Would you like something to drink" Kate asked but Alexis just shook her head. She seemed very subdued and Kate was getting more concerned by the minute.

"Alexis, what's wrong, is it Martha?" Kate tried guessing.

Alexis then looked up into Kate's eyes and said "No, it's not Grams... it's my Dad"

Kate's heart stalled in her chest. My God she was here about Castle. Had something happened to him.

"I came to you because I didn't know what else to do. Grams is away on some retreat and I can't get in touch with her. I have left a message but who knows if they will give it to her or not"

Kate was really alarmed. It had to be something bad.

"Alexis please tell me what the problem is" was that really her voice sounding all panicked like that, she wondered.

"Well, my Dad left this afternoon at 2 o'clock. He left me a note to say his flight had been moved up an hour."

Kate nodded and said "Yes, that's right"

"In the note he also said he would text me when he got there. Then he said that if he couldn't get a signal up there he would use one of the lodge's phones and call me. You know just to let me know he got there ok"

"His flight should have only taken 1 and half hours, he should have been there by about 3.30. It's now 5.15 and I haven't heard from him. Nothing. No text, no call, nothing!"

By now Alexis was becoming upset and had tears running down her face "I just didn't know what to do, so I came here to you"

Kate moved over closer to the girl and put a tentative hand on her arm for support. Inside she was freaking out. Where was he, what had happened?

"You did the right thing Alexis" Kate said although she wasn't sure what she could do to make this situation any better. She saw Alexis checking her phone again but there was nothing there.

Kate felt a paralysed by panic. She knew that she should do something to find out what had happened to Castle but she was terrified that she would find out something bad had happened.

Taking a deep breath and trying to get herself under control she fell back on her training. She thought for a moment about what the first thing was she needed to do.

"Alexis do you happen to know the name of Black Pawns main flight engineer." It was as good a place to start as any, she thought.

Alexis looked at her a little dazed and then seemed to understand what Kate was up to.

"Um... yes, it is Bob Winters."

"Would you happen to have a number for him?"

"Um... sorry, no I don't"

"That's ok, I can find out" Kate said chewing on her thumb nail. A really bad nervous habit she knew but she didn't berate herself for it today.

"Wait, I do have the number for Black Pawn here, they can probably tell you"

"That's great Alexis"

Alexis scrolled through her phone book until she came to the number. She read it out to Kate as she dialled her phone.

Kate chewed nervously on the tip of her finger nail and Alexis hovered anxiously nearby while she waited for the call to be answered.

Some time later she had the phone number she needed as well as other relevant information about where she could find this Bob Winters if she needed to see him in person.

She rang his number and waited. It kept ringing, no answer.

"What's wrong?" Alexis asked her.

"No answer" Kate chewed her lip thinking and then she made a decision.

"Come on, let's go"

"Where are we going?"

"We are going to find Mr. Winters in person. I can't wait any longer to find out what's going on"

XXXXXX

Rick was dazed and thought he might have a concussion, his vision was kind of fuzzy too. He was vaguely aware of the others around him but they seemed like they were far away. He closed his eyes tight and tried to center himself. He opened his eyes again and things were a little clearer. There seemed to be a fair bit of panic around him.

He tried standing up and a wave of dizziness overcame him so he sat again for a moment until the world righted itself once again. When he felt stronger he tried standing again. Ok, so far so good. He slowly made his way down the aisle of the plane to where the others were freaking out.

Gina noticed him then.

"Oh my God, Rick, are you alright?" she rushed over to him as he swayed a little. "Here sit down" she said as she urged him into one of the seats.

"It's ok, I'm fine."

"You're not fine, you're bleeding. Here sit so that I can take a look at it"

Rick plopped down into the seat suddenly too tired to argue. Gina examined the wound.

"There's a lot of blood but the wound isn't too big. Let me see if I can find the first aid kit so that I can clean it up for you." She started rummaging around in the cupboard just outside the cockpit door.

"Aha, found it" she said. She came back with the box in her hand and went to work on cleaning Rick's head up.

"Ow, take it easy Gina. You're enjoying this aren't you?" Rick asked grumpily.

"Just keep still, I'm almost done" she demanded. Rick just frowned at her.

A few minutes later she said "There all done. I'm sorry I can't clean the dried blood off your face but there aren't enough wipes in here to do it. Your wound is not too bad but just let me put a bandage on it just in case it weeps a bit"

When she was finished the noise from the others started to come through to him. He looked around and as far as he could tell he was the only one who had received an injury. Great, that's what he got for sitting at the back of the plane, away from everyone else. This was just the day from hell.

"There wouldn't happen to be any painkillers in that kit would there Gina? My head is hurting like a son of a bitch and I can't think straight"

Gina rummage around in the box and popped up with a packet of paracetamol. She grabbed a bottle of water from the little bar fridge in the galley and handed them to him. He popped a couple from the pack and swallowed them with a good swig of the water.

He leaned his head back against the headrest and closed his eyes. The others were still going on about their predicament and seemed to be going around in circles as to what they should do.

"Oh for goodness sake will you all just shutup!" Rick yelled to be heard above the racket.

Silence. He opened one eye and saw them all looking at him. He closed his eye again and took a deep breath.

"Yeah alright, we are in a pretty precarious position right now" he said "and we need to be smart about what we are going to do"

Rick paused then to see if the whining was going to start up again. Still with his eyes closed he went on "The fact that the pilot hasn't come out of the cockpit yet would seem to indicate that he is dead so we can't rely on his training to help us out. In fact I would suspect that if we were to open that door we would find the cockpit full of snow."

He paused once again but was met with more silence. He opened his eyes to find every pair of eyes on him. Great it looked like he was the only one with anything to contribute to this conversation.

He sighed and went on "We have partial light and some heat at the moment but I would suspect that will run out pretty quickly as the axillary battery runs flat. When that happens it's going to get really cold in here, really fast. So instead of arguing with each other about stupid things you would be better occupied with finding every piece of warm clothing and blankets that you can"

"It's going to be a long cold night and we will need everything we can get our hands on to survive it. I suspect that there will be rescue teams out looking for us at first light so we will need to get out there early and find as much wood and anything else that we can burn to put together a signal fire."

Rick closed his eyes again as the rest of them started shuffling around looking for any items that could be used for warmth. He felt someone sit down beside him and opened his eyes a crack. Gina.

"What?" he asked in a tone that said I don't really want to talk to you.

"Nothing... Just, you're different now, you know?" she paused and when he didn't say anything she went on "You are more mature and level headed than you used to be...is that your detectives influence?"

With that question his eyes popped open and bored into hers, then the fire went out of him and he said "Yes, it is. She's made me be a better man" and then he closed his eyes again as if to say this conversation is over.

XXXXXX

"Hi... excuse me...we are looking for Bob Winters.." Kate tried to get the attention of the girl behind the reception desk. The girl was talking on the phone and to Kate it sounded like a personal call.

Kate banged on the counter and the girl looked up but kept on talking. "Hey!" she yelled "do you think you could tear yourself away from that call for just a minute to answer my question?"

The girl just pulled a face at her and kept talking. Kate turned to look at Alexis in exasperation. Alexis shrugged as if to say what are you going to do?

Kate grabbed her badge and yelled again "NY Police Department. Put that phone down right now!"

The girls eyes popped out of her head and she hurriedly hung up the phone.

"What can I do for you officer" she said all nice as pie now.

"You can tell us where we can find Bob Winters"

"Oh, Mr. Winters in very busy right now, there's been some sort of emergency"

"I'm pretty sure that is what we want to see him about. Where is he?"

"You can find him in the operations room"

"Where would that be?"

"Perhaps I'd better just show you"

"Perhaps you'd better" Kate said with sarcasm, seriously sick of this girl.

They followed the girl down a long corridor and she stopped outside of a room with glass walls. Kate could see a beehive of activity going on behind the walls. This can't be good. Her anxiety level ratcheted up a few notches.

The girl indicated towards the room and then turned around and went back the way they had come.

Kate looked at Alexis and could see her anxiety reflected in the teenagers face.

"You ready?" Kate said and Alexis just nodded. They pushed the glass door open and entered. The men around the table stopped talking and looked up.

"Is Bob Winters here?" Kate said as she produced her badge once more. A dark haired man stepped away from the table and made his way over to them.

"I'm Bob Winters, how can I help you?"

"I'm Detective Kate Beckett of the NY Police Department. This is Alexis Castle, Richard Castles daughter. We were hoping that you could tell us what happened to his plane this afternoon."

"What makes you think anything happened to the plane?"

"He was supposed to get in touch with his daughter when he landed and he hasn't, that's how we know" Kate said with an edge to her voice.

"Ok, Detective, I'm gonna level with you" he paused and Kate nodded for him to go on "the plane in question did not reach it's destination." Kate heard Alexis gasp behind her and her own heart seemed to stop in her chest for a moment.

"We are not sure exactly what happened at the moment but we are working on a search and rescue plan right now. We are going to have a party ready to leave at daylight to start searching."

"There was a mayday call from the aircraft at around 2.25 this afternoon and we have logged the co-ordinates for where that call took place. This will be our starting point in the morning. I really don't have any more information to give you at this time"

"We are just about to pack it in for tonight and meet back here at 4.30am. You're welcome to come back then if you want to be a part of this" he said as he swept his arm around in the general direction of the table where all of the plans had been made.

"You can be sure we will be back" Kate said. And then she turned to Alexis who had been standing quietly right through the conversation. She looked absolutely stricken the poor girl. Kate put a hand on her arm and gently guided her out the door. Alexis went along without protest.

"Come on, I'll take you home. You should try to get some rest, tomorrow will be a long day"

Alexis just shook her head "I won't be able to sleep." she said quietly. She suddenly reached out and grabbed Kate's arm. "What am I going to do if he..." she couldn't bring herself to finish that sentence. It was the exact same thing that Kate was thinking but she tried not to show it.

"We have to stay strong and believe that he is ok, that he will get back home ok. The alternative is just to painful to contemplate" Kate said with glistening eyes. They looked at each other then and could see their pain reflected back to them in the others eyes.

"Would you stay with me tonight at the loft Kate?" Alexis pleaded "I don't think I can stand to be alone there without him."

Kate knew it would be hard to stay at the loft knowing Rick wasn't there, but she said "Of course I will stay with you. Come on lets get going."

XXXXXX

Ok, what did you think? Reviews and constructive advice welcome, flames are not. Thanks.


	4. Chapter 4

Obligatory disclaimer: I don't own Castle the show or any of it's characters. If I did you would see a bit more physical contact between Castle and Beckett:) This story is just for fun.

XXXXXX

Rick was resting in his original seat away from the others. The painkillers had helped to dull the pain in his head but he still felt a bit weird. He dug his phone out of his pocket but of course there was no signal as he expected. He started to scroll slowly through the pictures he had on the phone. There were some good ones and they made him smile.

He got to a picture of Alexis and he paused just looking at his beautiful daughter. This was a fairly recent picture that he had taken just a couple of weeks ago. She was definitely growing up. She looked more like a woman than his little girl now. He felt a bit of sadness at the loss of her childhood and what it meant for him. The days of them doing fun things together were getting short, in fact it had already begun to happen when she had been seeing Ashley. There was less time for her to spend with him now and he felt the ache in his chest.

He continued scrolling through the photos until he came to a picture of Kate. It was one he had snapped of her just the other day when she was fooling around with the boys. She wasn't even aware of the fact that he had taken it. She looked so happy and carefree. She really did have an extraordinary smile. He felt a tightness in his chest at the thought of not seeing her ever again. He had their entire future mapped out in his head, he just needed time to convince her how good they would be together. He was completely and irrevocably in love with her. For him she was his one and done.

He felt more than saw someone plop down into the seat next to him. Gina.

"How do you feel now?" she asked.

"Not too bad actually, the painkillers have helped"

"Just look at me so that I can see what your eyes look like"

"You know what my eyes look like or do you just have a bad memory" he joked.

Gina sighed loudly "I want to see the pupils to see if you have a concussion or not, silly"

Now it was Rick's turn to sigh but he did as she asked.

"Well thank goodness for small mercies at least they look normal"

"Great, then you can go back to the pity party going on up the front there"

"You're being very anti social you know. You didn't used to be like this..."

Rick just ignored her, wishing she would leave him alone. He continued to stare at the photo of Kate.

Gina nodded towards the photo and said "I thought you two would have been together by now"

"So did I" Rick answered quietly.

"So why aren't you?"

"It's complicated" was all he said.

XXXXXX

Kate and Alexis had swung by Kate's place for her to pick up a few things before heading to the loft. They'd had a meagre meal of a sandwich each as neither felt much like eating. For the most part silence ensued as each was engulfed in their own particular hell missing Rick.

At 10 Alexis excused herself to go to bed even though she knew she wouldn't sleep she needed the rest. That left Kate to wander aimlessly around the loft. She couldn't settle because the space had so much of Rick's personality wrapped up in it.

She finally found herself in his office among his books and papers. The room smelt like him and it was all at once comforting and heartbreaking. She wandered around the room for a bit and then finally settled in his chair. This is where he sat when he was creating. She drew her knees up onto the chair and wrapped her arms around them. She gently rocked herself backwards and forwards and let her mind flow over the last four years she had known him.

The tears began to fall then. No longer was she able to hold them in after the day she had just lived through. She was terrified that she would never see him again, never have the chance to tell him exactly what he meant to her. Terrified they wouldn't have the future she'd been sure they were headed towards if only she could have gotten herself together.

Now it might be too late.

She sat and cried for a long time until she felt absolutely exhausted. She got up to go to bed and started towards the staircase and the guest room when she stopped and changed direction. She found herself just inside the door way to Rick's room. She'd never been in here before and in this room his smell was even more potent.

She slowly approached the bed and then ran a hand across the covers. She pulled them back and slipped in under. She set the alarm on her phone for 4am and then she lay down. Kate adjusted herself until she was comfortable and was soon asleep.

XXXXXX

Rick woke up shivering despite the mounds of clothes and blankets he had on and over him. It was practically dark inside the plane now and he realized that the battery must have just about run out. He looked at his watch and found that it was 2am so the battery had lasted longer than he thought it would.

He wondered if the others were asleep. It was very quiet, almost eerily so. He was freezing and he was sure he wasn't going to get any more sleep that night. Just then he saw a figure shuffling towards him.

"Rick are you asleep?" Gina whispered.

He thought about pretending to be asleep and not answering her but he couldn't bring himself to be that mean.

"No, it's too cold to sleep" he whined.

"I know this is probably out of line considering our history but..." she hesitated

"What?" Rick said with impatience just wishing she would spit it out already.

"Maybe we could share body heat, I'm so cold I can barely feel anything and... well...there's something I didn't tell you before about my relationship with Bryan"

Rick groaned "Really Gina do you think this is the time to be regaling me with tales of your relationship. I don't really care"

Gina looked upset. "Oh, ok sorry. I just wanted to say that I found out just before we flew out that I'm pregnant and I just thought that me being this cold can't be good for the baby. I just thought that you might still care enough about me as a friend to help me out. Sorry I bothered you. I''ll leave you alone now"

"Wait! Gina, no I'm sorry I'm being such a pain in the ass. That knock on the head must have done something to me. Come on we need to keep you warm" with that he lifted his blanket and moved himself around so that there would be room for her to get in.

They snuggled down trying to find a comfortable position on the cramped air plane seats.

"No funny business now" Rick said good naturedly and thought about whether he would tell this to Kate when he got home or not. Probably best not to seeing as how she didn't seem to like Gina that much.

"Thanks Rick"

"No problem little momma. By the way Bryan's not going to come gunning for me when he finds out we slept together is he?"

Gina just playfully slapped him and said "Of course not, he's not the jealous type. Now go to sleep"

XXXXXX

Beckett groaned as the alarm on her phone blared in her ear. She woke up slowly, reality coming back to her. She was in Rick's bed in his loft... and he was missing. Tears welled in hers eyes but she blinked them back. No more crying. She hopped out of bed and quickly straightened the covers.

She then headed for the stairs and the guest room. She was in desperate need of a shower and she couldn't wait to get out of yesterdays clothes.

After her shower she was standing in front of the mirror applying some makeup in an attempt to conceal her crying session from the night before. She stopped with her hand in mid air and just looked at her reflection. This is the day that they will find Castle and bring him home, she thought. She had to keep believing this or she would really lose control.

She finished her makeup and quickly made her way to Alexis's room but she found that the girl was already gone. She hurried downstairs and could hear noises coming from the kitchen.

"Hey Alexis, how did you sleep?"

"Oh, hi Kate. I didn't really sleep just dozed while I tossed and turned." the girl answered "They will find him today won't they?"

"We have to believe they will"

After a bowl of cereal each for breakfast they left the loft to make their way to the operations room at the airport.

XXXXXX

Ok, what did you think? Reviews and constructive advice welcome, flames are not. Thanks.


	5. Chapter 5

Thank you all for the reviews, favs and story alerts:)

Obligatory disclaimer: I don't own Castle the show or any of it's characters. If I did you would see a bit more physical contact between Castle and Beckett:) This story is just for fun.

XXXXXX

Rick woke with a start. He was stiff with the cold and his head was really sore. Even with the extra heat from Gina's body he was still freezing. He looked at his watch and saw that it was just a little after 4am.

They really should get up and get started on collecting wood and any other flammable substances they could find to get the signal fire going.

He eased himself out of the makeshift bed carefully trying not to wake Gina. The longer she could sleep the less time she had to be in the hellhole of reality.

He slowly stretched and yawned which set of a pulse beat in his head. My God that cut on his head was hurting like a son of a bitch this morning. He popped a couple of the paracetamol tablets out of the packet into his hand and swallowed them with a good swig of water. Well, that was breakfast taken care of.

He quietly roused the other three men, well two and half men as he didn't really class Justin as a real man. He asked them to be as quiet as possible so they didn't wake the two women. There was no reason that the women needed to be awake yet. But even with is warning as he expected Justin started whining and Rick threatened him with his fist. That shut him up quickly.

The men had a little trouble opening the door. It seemed to be jammed and refused to budge. They kept pushing on it and all of sudden it opened outwardly in a hurry. They all fell out in a heap in the snow.

Just great, thought Rick. Now he was wet as well as freezing cold. This just gets better.

The men set to the task of finding fire wood. Every time Rick bent over it felt like the top of his head was coming off. And then when he would stand up he felt dizzy. He had to stop and take a deep breath a few times until they had decent wood pile to get the fire started. And of course that was the next challenge.

"Anyone got any matches or a lighter, anything?" he asked.

The others shook their heads, of course there couldn't have been one smoker among them could there? Maybe there was some matches somewhere on the plane. He climbed back on board and found that the two women were awake.

"Hey Gina, how'd you sleep?" Rick asked.

"Not too bad really. You make a decent hot water bottle" she said with a grin.

"Hey, there wouldn't be any matches somewhere on here would there? This signal fire is going nowhere fast without some sort of flame to get it started."

"There's possibly some in the galley somewhere, I can take a look..." but he stopped her with a raised hand.

"No, I'll look" he said.

He made his way down the aisle and stopped by the seat where the other woman was. "Hi, how are you today" he asked in a friendly tone "I'm Rick by the way"

"Oh, hi. I'm Maggie, and I didn't sleep too badly I guess, considering"

"Great, well I gotta go find some matches" he said more cheerfully than he felt.

After some hunting he managed to scare up a box of matches and after some cursing they eventually had the signal fire alight. Dawn was just breaking in the east and Rick felt satisfied that they were doing something to aid in their rescue.

XXXXXX

Kate and Alexis arrived at the operations room to find it a hive of activity. There seemed to be people everywhere and it looked a little chaotic.

"Mr. Winters..." Kate began but the man was preoccupied giving another man instructions and didn't hear her so she tried again "Mr. Winters... Bob" she yelled in the end.

He turned and looked their way, lifted his hand up in a wait a minute gesture and finished speaking to the other man.

"Detective Beckett, good morning" he said seriously "as you can see we are preparing for the first search and rescue helicopter to take off. Shouldn't be too long now. I'll let you know when they are leaving" he said and rushed off into the crowd milling about the room.

Kate looked at Alexis, who looked extremely pale this morning, and shrugged.

About ten minutes later Bob came back and said "They're boarding now and will be taking off in the next few minutes"

After the two helicopters took off things quietened down in the operations room. The main noise was coming from the radio. Kate and Alexis found themselves a seat and tried to get comfortable for the long wait. They weren't talking as they were both lost in their own thoughts.

Alexis was quietly freaking out and worried that they wouldn't find her dad. Kate turned and looked out of the window. Her mind went to Castle. She thought about all of the crazy things that they had been through together. She thought about his confession of love while she lay wounded on the ground. She thought about these last several months that she had been back at work. Working with him most every day, and yet not saying anything about it. Still letting him believe that she didn't remember anything.

She sighed loudly and turned back to find Alexis watching her intently. Kate smiled weakly at the girl and Alexis tried to return the smile but failed.

XXXXXX

Rick and the others had a really good fire going now and there was a lot of smoke rising. The smoke should be seen by anyone who was out looking for them. They periodically went searching for more wood as keeping the fire going at such a fast rate was burning the wood really quickly.

The mood was subdued but at least with the fire going they were relatively warm. Starving hungry, but warm. Castle settled down by the fire once again having just come back from another wood search. His head was hurting again and he looked at his watch and saw that it was 8am already. Four hours since he had painkillers. He checked the packet of painkillers and saw that there were only about six left. He put them away again as he decided to wait a bit longer before taking any more. Anyway it wasn't as bad as it had been first thing.

He drew his knees up to his chest and folded his arms across the top of his legs and then rested his head on his arms. He let his mind wander. He thought about Alexis and how freaked out she probably was at this time. He hoped she was with Kate. And then he thought about Kate and peace came over him as it quite often did when he thought about her. He wondered what she was doing at this moment. Was she helping with the rescue? Did she even know that he was missing? Did she even care?

XXXXXX

At around 10am Alexis jumped when her phone rang. She fumbled for it in her haste to answer it and almost dropped it before righting it at the last minute. She looked at the caller display and quickly answered.

"Grams! Where are you!"

"Really Alexis is that anyway to answer your phone. How about saying 'Hello, how are you' common manners darling"

"I'm sorry Grams but I've been trying to get hold of you since yesterday, did they give you my messages?"

"Yes, they did, this morning. What's the matter, you sound positively distraught"

"Oh Grams it's terrible..."

"What is?"

"It's Dad..."

"Your father, what's he gone and done now?"

"He hasn't done anything Grams, he's missing"

"Missing? What are you talking about girl. You'd better tell me the whole story"

So while Alexis filled Martha in on what had been happening Kate once again zoned out. She was having trouble focusing which wasn't like her at all. Her thoughts wandered back to Castle, Rick, she wished she could talk to him right about now. He would make her feel better, he always knew just exactly what she needed at any given time. It was kind of spooky how well he could read her.

Alexis hung up and sat down beside Kate again.

"Grams is on her way. I don't think she really believed me for a start. Thought I was joking, as if I would joke about something like this. I wish it was a joke!" she had tears in her eyes again and Kate felt helpless. She didn't know what to do to make things better and she could feel tears welling in her own eyes.

Kate quickly swiped the back of her hand across her eyes to stem the flow before it got started. I wouldn't do any good to break down now. She had to be strong for when the rescuers found him and bought him back home to them.

XXXXXX

Ok, what did you think? Reviews and constructive advice welcome, flames are not. Thanks.


	6. Chapter 6

Obligatory disclaimer: I don't own Castle the show or any of it's characters. If I did you would see a bit more physical contact between Castle and Beckett:) This story is just for fun.

XXXXXX

Hours passed and Kate was going stir crazy. She felt completely helpless with this inactivity. She was so used to being in the middle of the action and usually directing the way things went. This... this was just so out of her control and therefore her comfort zone. The lack of activity was giving her too much time to think and brood. Bob Winters had been conversing with the helicopter crews on and off all day.

Kate could hear Bob's side of the conversation but couldn't hear what the other end was saying as Bob had headphones on. From Bob's side of the conversation she could determine that they were not being very successful in locating the plane. It seemed they were widening the search area, not a good sign.

Martha had arrived a while ago and after the usual greetings and drama she settled down with Alexis to wait. Martha and Alexis had been talking quietly between themselves for a bit and after a couple of failed attempts to get Kate to join in they just left her to her thoughts.

Kate tuned everything out and sat looking out of the window. She knew she was being anti social but she couldn't care too much at the moment. The lack of news was starting to weigh a ton and she could feel herself bending from the weight of it. This was quite possibly the worst thing she had ever lived through apart from her Mothers murder and she wasn't sure she would survive if Castle didn't come home.

That got her started thinking about her walls. The walls she'd put up when her Mother was killed so that she didn't ever have to feel that kind of pain again. She'd been an idiot, she could see that now. The walls were a false security. They won't protect her if Rick is dead she knows that now. What the hell was she keeping her distance for. It's already too late, he is far too important to her now as it is. The walls won't stop the pain coming if he is gone. All this wasted time because she was too scared to let him in. She was just fooling herself, he was already in, had been for a long, long time.

Wow... what a revelation, but she hoped it wasn't too late. If he came home... no when he came home she was going to make sure he knew that the walls were down and that she wanted to be all in with him. No more wasting time.

Just then she became aware of a different feeling in the room. She looked around at Bob and could see he was getting quite animated. Kate slowly stood, heart pounding, hoping that this was good news. She felt, more than saw, Martha and Alexis rising to their feet also. Bob looked over at her and smiled. She let out a breath she hadn't been aware of holding and quickly made her way over to him.

He slipped on side of the headphones off and said excitedly, "It could be good news. The chopper crew have spotted smoke, lots of smoke, and are winging their way towards it now. Pretty sure it's our lost ones. Hopefully it's not the plane burning."

Kate looked at Martha and Alexis and they looked as tense as she felt.

Several tense minutes later Bob pushed the headphones back in place and listened intently. Kate was wound tighter than a spring. Please... please... please she chanted to herself. The other two looked just as tense.

And then...

"They've found them!" He jumped up and pumped a fist in the air. Kate felt like doing the same thing but settled for hugging Martha and Alexis instead.

Bob quickly sat and listened again. After several minutes he pulled the headphones off again and said "Ok, it looks as though everybody made it except the pilot" he waited for a moment and then said "There are a couple of problems with this rescue though"

Kate was getting impatient and said "Yeah, ok, so what's the problems then"

Bob took a breath and continued "Well, first... there is nowhere for the helicopter to land so the crew are going to have to winch them up one by one. They're going to start with the two women and then if they have time they will get the men"

Kate said "What do you mean 'if they have time'. What the hell, they better have time. You can't leave Castle out there another night, for Gods sake!"

"Calm down please. More bad weather has been forecast for tonight and the wind is rising already so I've been told. It's also pretty close to dusk and visibility is becoming poor."

"What the rescue crew is proposing to do is to lift the women out. They are going to leave one of their experienced men with the rest of the survivors along with all the necessary survival gear and go back in the morning when the weather is calmer and bring the rest of them home."

"Don't worry, they will be quite safe" Bob said to counteract Kate's sceptical look.

XXXXXX

Some time later the helicopter carrying Gina and Maggie landed. As they disembarked and walked across the tarmac Kate took time to study the blonde. She felt a tightness in the chest that she always felt whenever Gina was around or mentioned in conversation.

It didn't seem as though Alexis or Martha had those problems with her though. As soon as she entered the operations room they pounced on her.

"Gina, oh thank goodness you're ok" they said almost at the same time while drawing the woman into a hug.

"Yes, I'm fine, Martha, Alexis. Really good in fact"

Kate stood back and watched them. Gina lifted her head slightly and looked Kate in the eye. Kate looked back at her unwaveringly.

"Gina, is my Dad ok"

Gina looked at the girl and said "Yes, Alexis. He is fine. He's got a bit of a cut on his head but otherwise he's fine. In fact, I don't think we would have survived last night without him" she said as she looked at Kate once again.

"Detective" she said cautiously. She could feel the animosity coming from Kate and wasn't real sure what was the cause of it.

"Gina" Kate said back to her in her best detective voice.

Just then Bob came over and said "Can you ladies come with me. You should get checked out by the paramedics just to make sure you're ok"

Gina said "Sure, ok. I will see you later Alexis, Martha and you too Detective" and then the women followed Bob out to where the paramedics were waiting.

"What do we do now?" Alexis asked.

"Well, I guess there's not much we can do until the morning, so I guess we should go home and come back then" Kate said.

"Are you coming back to the loft again tonight, Kate?" Alexis asked. Martha looked curious so Alexis explained how Kate had stayed with her.

"Oh, yes, darling. Do come and keep us company. We can be all girls together. And now that we know Richard is alive and fine we can talk about him, what do you say?"

Kate was about to refuse and the thought better of it.

"I think that would be great, actually"

XXXXXX

Rick woke early the next morning. He had spent a better night than the one before. They were ensconced in a thermal tent, under thermal blankets with a nice camping heater warming the interior of the tent.

There was hot chocolate and some sort of power bars to eat. Yes, he was feeling much better than yesterday. Even the pain in his head had dropped to a dull ache. They had enjoyed a fairly comfortable night considering the storm that had been raging outside for most of it. But it was all calm now.

And best of all, he was going home today. He was going to see his daughter and his mother. And of course, he was going to see Kate.

A little later the others were awake also. The rescue crewman, Andy, that had stayed with them had them eat breakfast and then start packing the camping stuff up. It was still early but he was expecting the chopper back for them within the next hour or so.

It was while they were packing up that Andy stopped and listened. Rick, seeing this, stopped too, thinking that he must have been able to hear the chopper.

Just as Rick was about to ask he could hear a noise. It was a kind of low roaring noise and as he was watching Andy's face for some indication of what it was he saw the panic slide across his features.

Andy turned to the rest of them and said "Drop everything and run in that direction" he said as he pointed towards the west "Run as fast as you can and don't stop until I tell you to"

As everyone just stood there wondering what the hell was going on he yelled again "For Gods sake get moving and keep moving, that way" he pointed again and then started shoving the others in the direction he'd indicated.

"What..."

"Avalanche!" he yelled. And then when that got through to the others they started moving, fast.

XXXXXX

Ok, what did you think? Reviews and constructive advice welcome, flames are not. Thanks.


	7. Chapter 7

Thank you every one for all of the reviews, favs and alerts. I am really blown away by the attention this story has been getting.

Obligatory disclaimer: I don't own Castle the show or any of it's characters. If I did you would see a bit more physical contact between Castle and Beckett:) This story is just for fun.

XXXXXX

At 4.30 the next morning Kate, Martha and Alexis headed out to the airport again. The mood on the ride over was very light, much different than the day before.

The rescue helicopter left right at dawn and as the weather forecast was good they were confident of completing the rescue this morning.

Kate was feeling a little sick. She figured it was a combination of the stress from the last couple of days as well as excitement at seeing Castle again. And if she was honest she was just a little bit wound up about how she was going to confess her feelings to him. She really wasn't great with this whole relationship thing especially in this case as it mattered so much more than it ever had before. It was much easier to hide but she realised that by hiding she was wasting precious time. She really wanted to have a future with him so she would find a way to let him know.

Time passed and Kate grew restless. How long should it take anyway? She was about to ask Bob when there seemed to be a change in his demeanour. She slowly made her way over to him and he put a hand up to stop her from asking any questions. He looked very serious. Kate felt the tension return to her body as she got a bad feeling. Martha and Alexis rose from their seats also and moved closer.

They looked at Kate and she shrugged her shoulders to indicate that she didn't know what was going on. Bob was talking quietly and she couldn't make out what he was saying.

After a few minutes Bob slipped off the headphones and turned to look at the three women. Kate could see by the look in his eyes that it wasn't good news. Her heart started pounding in fear.

"Um..." he tried to start but seemed to be having trouble pushing the words out.

"Just tell us, please" Kate said pleadingly while looking at the other two who had similar frightened expressions on their faces.

Bob took a deep breath "There's been a development... Um.. it's not good news I'm afraid" he paused again and Kate wanted to yell at him to just spit it the hell out but restrained herself with great difficulty.

"The rescue team can't locate the crash site..."

"What!" The three women said just about in unison. Kate continued "how can that be?"

"They went to the same place as yesterday as per the co-ordinates and there is no trace of the remains of the plane or the survivors or even the rescue crew member, Andy, who was left with them."

"How can that be?" Kate repeated.

"They think that an avalanche came through some time in the intervening hours. They can't say when it happened or whether Andy and the survivors were in the path of the avalanche when it hit." He let them process that and could tell by the horrified expressions on all of their faces that they understood exactly what he was saying.

"If Andy was aware of it coming he would have done whatever it took to get them out of the path of it. The rescue crew are now combing the crash site with thermal imagery equipment to see if there is any sign of life below the surface."

Kate was horrified. She couldn't believe this was happening. She looked at Alexis and Martha and could see that they were both in shock. They had come here today in good spirits knowing that they would see Castle very soon and now this. Come on, what the hell was going on?

"And if they don't find any sign?" Kate asked.

"Well, it means one of two things. The worst case scenario would be that they are..." he paused wishing he didn't have to say it but then continued "they are all dead and buried under several metres of snow" More horrified expressions from the three women.

"And the best case scenario?" Kate asked.

"The best case scenario would be that they had time to get out of the path of the avalanche and are wandering around somewhere out there, where we will find them eventually."

"Doesn't really seem like the best case scenario to me" Kate growled "How are they supposed to survive?"

"That's the thing. If we don't find them today then their chances of survival drop dramatically. Even just a few hours out there can be the difference between life and death"

Kate dropped her head to her chest and rubbed her fingers along her forehead in frustration. She took a couple of deep breaths and tried to even her breathing because she was coming seriously close to having a panic attack. This just could not be happening.

"I know it's hard but we just have to wait now. The rescue crew will be in contact when they know anything"

More waiting. She started chewing her thumb nail thinking frantically if there was anything or anyone she knew that could help. Just then she saw movement out of the corner of her eye and looked over in time to see Martha lose her balance as she started to faint and Alexis trying to catch her. Kate moved quickly and slid her arms around the older woman before she hit the floor.

Martha was too pale and Kate sat her in a chair and pushed her head down between her knees. Alexis looked frantic. Kate rubbed Martha's back and told her to breathe. She'd never seen the woman in this state before, she was always so bouncy and full of life. This was really hitting her hard. Kate's legs wouldn't hold her up any longer so she sat next to Martha and continued to rub her back. Alexis slumped down into the chair on the other side of her grandmother.

None of them said a word but they all wore similar shattered expressions.

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After what felt like hours to Kate there was finally some indication from Bob that there was news coming through.

Bob looked over at the women and said "Ok, the rescue crew have finished scanning the crash area with the thermal imaging equipment and they can find no sign of life beneath the surface.

Kate didn't know whether to be relieved or horrified. It could mean they were all dead but on the other hand it could mean that they were all out there wandering around in the freezing snow. Yeah, great.

"So what now?" she asked.

"I have just called for more choppers and search teams and they are now going to search in ever widening circles out from the crash site... Hang on" he put a finger up in the universal 'wait a minute' signal. He replaced the headphones and listened intently.

After a couple of minutes he slipped the headphones off again and said "Ok, they are going to start working towards the west first"

"Why?" Kate asked puzzled.

"Well, they have taken a good look from the air at the path of the avalanche and they figure that Andy would have lead them to the west as it is the direction in which there would have been the least danger to them. Remember these guys are trained in this stuff. Andy would have done some quick calculations in his head and he would have come to the same conclusion that the rest of them have. We have to trust their judgement" Bob explained.

"So now we just wait?" Kate asked. Bob nodded and said "and now we just wait"

Kate went and sat with the others again and prepared herself for the wait. She couldn't believe that Castle might be dead. She had such a connection with him that she thought that she would know if that was true. Wouldn't she feel it? Know that he was gone. She had to keep believing he was alive. If he wasn't, then...

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I have no idea whether thermal imaging machines do in fact exist. I'm also not an expert on plane crashes, avalanches or survival in below freezing conditions. In fact, I am no expert on snow at all as I live in Australia and it was 31c (around 87f) when I was writing this and it isn't even summer yet. Maybe I should have had them crash in the desert:)

Ok, so what did you think? Reviews and constructive advice welcome, flames are not. Thanks.


	8. Chapter 8

Obligatory disclaimer: I don't own Castle the show or any of it's characters. If I did you would see a bit more physical contact between Castle and Beckett:) This story is just for fun.

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"_So now we just wait?" Kate asked. Bob nodded and said "and now we just wait"_

_Kate went and sat with the others again and prepared herself for the wait. She couldn't believe that Castle might be dead. She had such a connection with him that she thought that she would know if that was true. Wouldn't she feel it? Know that he was gone. She had to keep believing he was alive. If he wasn't, then..._

"They've found them!"

Kate's heart nearly jumped out of her chest when she heard Bob yell those wonderful words. She looked at Martha and Alexis and then they were all hugging each other and smiling widely.

And then, as if some unknown force was guiding them, they gravitated towards the window to watch for the helicopter that was bringing Rick home to them.

It wasn't too long later that they heard the unmistakeable whoop whoop sound of the helicopter coming in to land.

Kate stepped back from the window and paced away from the others a little. She was trying to get her composure back but wasn't being real successful. She couldn't just throw herself into Castles arms as soon as he walks in, could she? Could she? No, she told herself. She wasn't sure how she was going to let him know how she felt, this was new to her, no other relationship had ever mattered so much before now.

And then he was there being engulfed in a huge hug from Martha and Alexis. His eyes found Kate's and their eyes locked. He was answering questions from his mother and daughter automatically but his eyes never left Kate's.

He looked good, she thought. She looked over his face, drinking him in, and saw that he had a couple of days growth and it made him look as sexy as hell. Kate just wanted to run her fingers over it to see how it felt. Would it be soft? Then her eyes moved up and she saw the angry gash above his eye and her breath caught in her throat. There was a dark bruising coming out around the gash and it looked quite painful.

"Mr. Castle, could you please come and get checked out by the paramedics?" Bob asked.

Rick finally broke eye contact with Kate to answer him "I'm fine, I don't need to be checked out.."

"Oh, Richard, don't be difficult. Go and get checked out, you could be suffering from hypothermia. You were wandering around in below freezing temperatures for several hours"

"Yes, mother I am fully aware of that, I was there you know. I feel perfectly fine..."

"Don't argue Richard, you have a nasty gash on your head that needs seeing to. It could be turning septic as we speak" Martha insisted.

"Yes, Dad, now that we have you back we don't want to lose you to something else that can be prevented"

"Alright, alright, I'll get checked out" he said good naturedly. He followed Bob out of the room with Martha and Alexis following closely behind. Alexis stopped and turned to Kate when she realised that Kate wasn't following them.

"Are you coming?"

"Yes, yes, of course" Kate said as she seemed to come back to herself and she followed Alexis out.

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Rick had thankfully been given the all clear by the paramedics after they had checked him out for hypothermia and cleaned his wound.

He wasn't sure what was up with Kate as she hadn't yet spoken one word to him. The look she'd given him when he arrived spoke volumes but he really would rather hear the actual words. He felt like she was trying to tell him something but he couldn't work it out.

Now they were all on their way back to the loft with Kate driving them. Martha and Alexis were in the back chatting excitedly. He was in the front with Kate and the thick silence stretched between them.

Kate could feel Rick watching her intently and tried to think of something to say. She had been suspiciously quiet since he'd got back and she knew that she had to say something very soon or he would know that something was up.

She looked sideways at him quickly a couple of times and then said very quietly, almost so quietly he had to strain to hear "I'm really glad you are ok, Castle."

He grinned at her then "I'm glad I'm ok too" he said. She grinned back at him and with that the tension seemed to ease a bit.

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Castle was a bit perplexed by Kate's behaviour. She had dropped them off at the loft and quickly excused herself saying that she had to check in at the precinct. Her excuse was that she would be in the firing line with Gates as she'd taken off a couple of days ago without telling her where she was going or what was going on.

It was like Kate couldn't wait to get away from him. If he was honest with himself he would say that he was really hurt by her actions. But on the other hand he knew there had to be a good reason for it. The way she had looked at him earlier when he had walked into the operations room had to have meant something. It was equal parts happiness and joy and some other emotion that he couldn't name as yet.

Why then the big freeze? Why did she leave in such a hurry? At least he had gotten a promise from her to come back for dinner. He wasn't taking no for an answer and he had persuaded her to come back. Maybe then he would find out what was up.

His mother and Alexis had been fussing over him all afternoon and it was starting to drive him mad. He had excused himself a while ago and come to his study to think. The two women were now in the kitchen cooking up a storm and he could hear their happy chatter from where he sat.

It was good to be home. After the last couple of days he was ready to just relax with his family and rejoice in the fact that he had survived and was still alive. Of course, it would be even better if Kate hadn't left. And then his mind was back onto why she had left with a never ending loop.

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Kate knew she was a coward but the flight instinct had taken over when she had dropped Castle and his family at the loft. Panic sent her fleeing and she thought of the first excuse she could to get her out of there. Of course, it wasn't too far fetched that Gates would be gunning for her anyway. She had left without telling her why, so Kate figured she was going to get reprimanded when she saw Gates. Better to get it over and done with.

She walked into the bullpen and it was fairly quiet. Perhaps it hadn't been busy while she was away and Gates wouldn't be too mad. To bad if she was. Kate felt she was justified for her actions and would tell Gates as much.

She stopped at her desk and sunk into her chair. She leaned her elbows on the desk and dropped her head to her hands. She sighed loudly and tried to relax. Castle was home and safe. Castle was home and safe, she kept repeating to herself as she slowly breathed in and out.

"Yo, Beckett, heard they'd found Castle alive and well, good news hey?" Esposito said as he walked over to her.

Kate lifted her head to look at her friend. "Yes, it's great news. Martha and Alexis are over the moon"

"Yeah, I'll bet. What about you?" he asked.

"What do you mean 'What about me'?"

Esposito just gave her one of those looks that said, you know exactly what I mean by that.

Kate grinned at him and said "Yeah, alright I'm glad he's back in one piece as well, ok?"

Esposito gave her a knowing look and turned and went back to his desk.

XXXXXXXXXX

Rick kept looking at his watch and pacing like a caged tiger. How much longer before Kate came back, she'd been gone for hours and it was almost dinner time.

"Richard, for goodness sake, sit down!" Martha yelled at him "You're going to wear holes in the floor if you don't stop."

"I'm sorry, it's just..."

"She will come back you know. She just needed some time to herself to regroup. The last couple of days have been hard, Richard. We have all been through a lot."

He looked at his mother and for once she looked serious. Yes, the last couple of days had taken their toll on all of them. He sighed and sunk into the nearest chair.

Kate, meanwhile, had been hesitating outside his door. She didn't know why she couldn't raise her hand to knock, but it was proving to be difficult. She was feeling a bit frazzled from her confrontation with Gates and just needed a few moments to get her head together. Before this night was over Rick was going to know how much he meant to her, once and for all. She still didn't know how she was going to tell him, but tell him she was going to.

She raised her hand to knock and just then the door swung open as Rick was about to leave to dispose of a bag of garbage.

"Kate!" he exclaimed in surprise.

"Hi, Castle" she said with a beautiful smile.

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Ok, what did you think? Reviews and constructive advice welcome, flames are not. Thanks.


	9. Chapter 9

Just a short one today:) I'm not too sure how I feel about this one but if I have to go through it one more time I'm going to scream so I've posted it as is. Hope it's ok:)

Obligatory disclaimer: I don't own Castle the show or any of it's characters. If I did you would see a bit more physical contact between Castle and Beckett:) This story is just for fun.

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Dinner had been a lively affair with lots of joking and laughing. It was a good way to de-stress after the last couple of days and everyone was ready for some light hearted conversation.

Rick spent a lot of time observing Kate through dinner. She was giving the impression of light heartedness but he could see something simmering below the surface. There was something bothering her and he couldn't work out what it might be.

After dinner was finished and the dishes all cleaned up Alexis and Martha excused themselves, claiming fatigue from the last couple of days. Whether this was true or not Rick couldn't say. Maybe they sensed that Kate needed to get something off her chest and were happy to leave the two of them alone to talk.

"So...more wine?" Rick asked.

"Mmm... yes, that would be lovely, thanks" Kate replied, still with that distracted air about her.

"Go, sit and I will get it" he smiled at her and with a wave of his hand indicated the sofa.

She smiled back at him briefly and then turned to make her way to be seated.

Rick went into the kitchen to get the wine. A few minutes later he returned with their glasses and handed one to Kate, who was now reclining comfortably on the sofa. Rick was about to seat himself when he thought better of it. He had been finding it increasingly difficult to keep his hands to himself tonight and thought that distance was probably a good thing right now.

He placed his glass down onto the table and shoved his hands in his pockets to stop them from doing something he would regret. This evening had to be under Kate's direction. He had to wait for her to tell him what was on her mind he reminded himself.

"Would you like to watch a movie?" he suddenly asked as the silence got too much for him. He felt the strong need to pace, or do something that would dispel this restless energy that was creeping up inside of him. He needed a distraction from what he really wanted to do.

Confused by his refusal to sit down Kate said with a slight smile "No, I think I'm too tired to watch a movie tonight." She suppressed a yawn. She couldn't allow herself to succumb to the bone weary tiredness that was invading her limbs until she'd told him how she felt.

"What about some quiet music then?" Rick said with a gentle smile "That way we can just sit here and relax.." he grinned again and then added "no pressure"

Kate thought that last part was a bit strange, what did he mean by 'no pressure'. As she was about to ask him he turned away to walk across the room and then he started fiddling with the sound equipment. Seconds later soft music drifted across the loft and immediately soothed Kate's ragged nerves.

Rick came back and this time he sat. After several attempts to engage Kate in conversation, and only receiving one or two word answers, Rick couldn't stand it any more.

He jumped up off the couch so fast that he startled Kate. He held out his right hand to her and said "Dance with me"

At her perplexed look he added "Please"

She slowly reached her hand out to take his and lifted herself from the sofa. Rick drew her into his arms and started swaying to the music. He was mindful to keep a decent distance between their bodies so that he didn't frighten her away. After a few minutes of quiet swaying to the music Rick felt her relax into him.

He wrapped his right arm around her tighter and tucked their other hands up under his chin, revelling in the feel of her so close. He breathed in her scent and it calmed him. Whatever was on her mind he was sure she would tell him, but he didn't think it was anything bad now, otherwise she wouldn't be letting him hold her so close, would she?

Kate breathed a sigh of relief. It had been torture trying to keep her feelings under control tonight. She wanted so badly to tell him how she felt but the coward in her wasn't letting her. Now she was in his arms and the gentle rocking to the music was relaxing her. She felt like she may be able to do this after all.

After several more minutes of quiet dancing Rick felt his nerves starting to stretch once again. He was so aware of the woman in his arms that every brush of her body against his set him tingling. He felt like he was on fire. He started unconsciously rubbing his right hand up and down her back enjoying the feeling of the contours of her body. He buried his nose in her hair and took a deep breath. He needed to get closer and that is why he stepped back a bit, putting some distance between them. His breathing was shallow and he felt the blood draining from his head to head south.

Kate looked up at him startled by the gap that was now between them. Rick was thinking madly for something to say that would explain his erratic behaviour.

"Kate, I have the feeling that you need to tell me something tonight. I just wish you would trust me enough to say it"

Kate looked even more startled. She thought she had been doing a good job of hiding how she felt. But she should have known that Rick would have picked up on it. The man seemed to have an extra sense where she was concerned.

"I do trust you" she said and then she put her hand on his chest and pushed away from him a bit further. Rick was scared now that maybe this _was_ something bad. The look in her eyes had changed and he wasn't sure what he was seeing.

Kate took a deep breath and prepared to just spit it out already.

"Rick, I..."

Just then her phone rang and Rick just about screamed in frustration. She looked at the caller ID and said "I'm sorry, I have to get this"

With that she moved right away from him and answered the phone.

Rick heard her say her trademark "Beckett" into the phone and then continued to watch her as she talked to whoever was on the other end. Her brow was furrowed and he knew without her telling him that it was work.

She finished up the call and walked back to him with and apologetic smile said "I'm sorry Castle, I have to go"

"Body?" was all he said.

"Yeah"

"I'm coming too" he said

"I don't think that is a good Idea, Castle. You've had a couple of tough days and you really should be resting"

"I'm fine, I don't need to rest" he said adamantly.

"You're not going to take no for an answer, are you?" she asked.

"Nope"

"Well let's go then" she said sternly but with a little smile playing around her lips telling him that she wasn't really annoyed with him.

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Ok, what did you think? Reviews and constructive advice welcome, flames are not. Thanks.


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